Untitled Texas Attorney General Opinion ( 1971 )

Honorable Roger M: 'Dreyer qp'inidnNo. i-1021 ” County Attorney 204 Ciiri'stian Bullding '~ "-' Re: .Authorityof county 711 St. Joseph Street .to lease two-way Gonzales; Texas 78629" radios for a deputy sheriff and related Dear Mr. Dreyer: . questions. Our former Opinion No. M-969 (1971) is withdrawn and this Opinion issued in its stead. Your opinion request contains a series of questions,. which~may be consolidated and paraphrased as follows:,' 1. May the county commissioners.&easetwo-way radio equipment foruse by ,i+e sheriff7 2. May .thecounty cotiissioners lease.or purchases and maintain two-way radio equipment.for the.personal vehicles of the sheriff and-his deputies, includingespecial deputi,es? 3. May the county commissioners lease two-way radio equipment for the automobile of a game management officer employed by the Parks and Wildlife Department?%' The authority 'forthe county commissioners to pay for the expenses incurred byla sheriff is found in Article 3899, Vernon's Civil Statutes, which,~in ~therelevant portions of part (b?, reads as follows: :. "(b) Each officer~named in.this Act, where he receives a salary ,as,compensationforhis ser- '. vices, shall'be entitled.and permitted to purchase or charge to his county,all reasonable expenses necessary in fbe xroper,and ,le.g.al conduct of his office. . . . The Commissioners.Court of the county 1 ~A11 Articles referred;.to .areVernon's Civil Statutes unless otherwise stated. -4975- HonorableRoger M. Dreyer, page 2 (M-1021) of the sheriff's~residence may, upon the writ-. ten and sworn application of the sheriff stat- ing the necessity therefore,. purchase equipment for a Bureau of Criminal Identification,such as cameras, fingerprintcards, inks, chemicals,, microscopes, radio and laboratory equipment, filing cards, filing cabinets,,tear gas and other equipment, in keeping with.the system in use with the Department of Public Safety of this State, or the United States Department of Justice and/or Bureau of Criminal Identifi- cation." The commissionerscourt,is also authorized'byArticle 6699ato furnish equipment reasonably necessary for deputy sheriffswho.serve as county traffic officers, The commissionerscourt has jurisdictionand authorky limitedto that provided by thaConatitution or by law, but the.commissioners court has the implied power to exercise broad discretion to accomplish the purposes'intended by any rightconferred.or"obligation,.imposed;'.Andersonv. Wood, 137,Tex.201, 152 S.W.'2d1084 (1941);Do&on v.~Marshal& 118 S.W.2d.621 (Tex..Civ.App.1938; error dism.),~ Two-way radio equipment is'an obvious incident-to'ef- fectivelaw enforcementi'and.the~usefulness-of radio.equip- sent,isrecognized specificallyby Article 3899;. 6ince.the zommissioners'court is,authorized"toprovide for all r.eason- able.endneceasary'expenses.ofthe,.sheriff., ,thenclearly they nay provide.forthe,purchase'orlease of two-way radio equip- nent.foruse by the sheriff and his deputies in accordance, with the provisions of Articles 3899 .and 6699a.. Sheriffs and theirdeputies are authorized to-use their personallyowned cars inthe performance of their official iuiiies.Frtiole 6877-I. Our opinion is that the commissioners. :outthas'authorityun'derboth Articles 3899 'and 6699a to'in- StalLand maintain two-way,radioequipment, either purchased or Leased,, in personally,owne,d ;oarsused in the performanceoff lffioialduties. Your request; insofar.as.itapplies to .a special reserve deputysheriff warrants specie1 ~attention. ,Thespecial'deputy in question, according:to the information furnishes,has been -4976- .HonorableRoge,rM. Dreyer; page:'3 (MLlb21j " :: appointed by the sheriff pursuant to authorizationentered upon'the minutes of.the commissionercourt;. The special' ~. deputy serves without pay or mileage reimbursement"abdhas-: . _or emergency only part-time . . -duties. The last,legisl,ature ‘! enacted specral provzsions sor reserve deDutV~sheriffa to serve,without pay. (Acts 62nC Lea., R.S.',1971r.ch;..5D6, p* 17399 and Acts of the same Legislature, ch. 829; p. 2531, .. as amended by Acts 62nd Leg., 1st C.S., 1971, ch. 'Cl;. pi + 3434). The commissionerscourt has the discretion'to'diter- mine if the purchase or lease of two-way..radioequipmeritfor the special or reserve deputies is a reasonable and necessary expense of.the ,sheriff. ,...: '~ Your,#ira questicn'con&rns‘furnishing radio equipment' for the state-owned vehicle of a game management officer employed by the Parks:,and~WildlifeDepartment. This officer is expressly named as a peace off.icerin Article 97Sf-5c, Vernon's Penal Code.' According to information furnished this office by 'theParks.and~WildlifeDepartment, the Department of Public Safety, and the Sheriff's Association of Texas, a number of counties,have provided radio equipment for instal- lation in vehicles operated by the Departmentof Public Safety and game managementofficers. ,The,equipmentso furnished op- berateson the radio frequency‘used,.by'thesheriffs and enables the sheriffs to maintain contact with the other officers.and materially facilitates cooperation among all peace Officers in law enforcement. . 'This interpretation-ofArticles 389,9and 6699a.and gener- al administrativepractice in wide application'over'theState for many years, involving the range of discretionallowed com- missioner's courts, 1.8entitled to substantialweight in the construction qf..thestatutes under con~sideration.53'Tex.aur. 2d 259-264,.Statutes;Sec..177. No etatutory authority express'lyauthorizes a sheriff to provide radio'equipmentfor.installation'.$n'vehic~es~oper+ted by game management officersor other law enforcementpersonnel but Article 3899, expres.sly.authorisesthe sheriff *i .'..to purchase or charge tomhis county.,allreasonable expenses nec- essary in the 'properand legal conduct of his ,office.. . ." and expressly authorizes the purchase of ~radioequipment. A broad and libera~'.interoretationis to.be~siven.thislancuace. ,Rodgersv. County.~of'Taylor,368 S;-W.:Zd 794 (Tex&v.App;, - m63, error ref.n.r.e.1. The Department of Public'Safety and the~sherif'fsand other law.enforcementofficersdarere- quired,to cooperate under statutes such as Articles 4413(15), 4413(19),,and ,44.L3(21). -4977- ., HonorableRoger M.'Dreyer, page 4 (M-lO21) Our opinion is that the commissionerscourt can provide .radioequipment for the sheriff to install in the vehicles of game management officers or other law enforcement personnel as an aid to'the'sheriffin law enforcement if the.commissioners court, in its discretion, finds the use of such equipment to be a reasonable and necessary expense in the proper conduct of the sheriff's office. To the extent of any conflict herein with Attorney General's Opinion.Nos. 046649 (1945), R-2442 S 51 (lg!X), and'C-743 (lS6) and any other such opinions, those opinions'areoverruled.: 'suuuARY Xn accordance with the terms'of.Article * 3899, Vernon's Civil'Statutes,the~commiseioners court is authorized to provide for all reason- able expenses-necessary'inthe proper'..andlegal conduct of the.sheriff% office andfmay, in its discretion, purchase or,.leaseand maintain two- way'radio.equipment: 1. for 'useby the sheriff.~an&his-:deputiest 2. for'instalZationand use in the:Derson- ally owned cars of the .sheriffand;-bierdeputies when the vehiclesare used in the performance of official duties3 ..~.. 3. for"~.installation- 8nd use im.the 'person- .allyowned vehicle of a ,speciaIor.reserve deputy sheriff when,the.deputyis appointed:inaccordance with the law and the vehicle.is us&in the per- formance of",offj;cial‘.~dlities: :;.. ~.,. : 4. for'ji installat~ion~and~use~:~n:~the:state- owned vehicle of 'a-gamemanagement:::offfcer or other law ,enforcementofficer,whe~nthd.:tise~.i an_ aid.,tothe ;sheriffin the.enforcement,:of law,in the county.' Attorney General,,Opin$onNo.:M-969 .(19.71) is withdrawn;:andto the,~extentof :any:.confl,ict with this opinion, Attorney General Opfnion Nos. O- 6649 (1945).andR-2445 S 51 (1951),end C-743 (1966) and any other conflicting opinions.are:overruled. -4970- Honorable Roger M. Dreyer, page 5 (M-1021) truly yours, / c&2?= . TIN ey General of Texas Prepared by Roland Daniel Green, III Assistant Attorney G.eneral APPROVED: _ . OPINION COMMIT&E Kerns Taylor, Chairman W.E.,Allen, Co-Chairman Sam Jones Gordon Cass Max Hamilton '- Bart Boling ,SAM MC DANIEL Staff Legal Assistant ALFRED WALKER Executive Assistant N&A WRITE .Firat Assistant. -4979-